When she joked around with the other employees and made them laugh, he remembered why he’d fallen in love with her in the first place. The woman wasn’t just pretty and ultra-competent, she made everything more fun. People naturally wanted to be around her.
He’d actually started looking forward to seeing her during her shifts.
And that kiss under the mistletoe…she wouldn’t have kissed him that way if she didn’t still have some feelings for him.
Maybe if he flirted with her, complimented her, let his hand brush against hers and…
Or maybe she’d just add sexual harassment to the list of things she’d tell the Lark Spring’s Gazette when she saw the architect’s changes and deemed them insufficient.They’re ruining the inn’s historical value, they’ve threatened to fire me, and the manager doesn’t respect personal boundaries.
Best not to risk it while they worked together.
One morning in mid-January, he strode into the lobby to talk to Riley about payroll. She stood at the desk, sorting through mail in a silky red blouse and black skirt that emphasized her small waist and long, toned legs.
He remembered a day when they’d been dating, and he’d come to the inn and seen her in that outfit. She wore the same deep red lipstick as well, and he wondered if it was the tube from last year. Was it possible that her lipstick had lasted longer than their relationship?
Back then, he’d brought lunch as a surprise because she said she was craving Thai food. Riley had looked up from her desk, brightened, and got up and thrown her arms around him.
He’d kissed her right there in the lobby, and afterward, she’d giggled because she left traces of red on his lips. She took a tissue from the front desk to wipe away the evidence. “You can’t go back to work with lipstick smudges anywhere. The other officers will wonder how women are getting out of their speeding tickets.”
“Would you have kissed me to get out of your speeding ticket?” he asked. “As I recall, I had to beat you at basketball before you let me kiss you.”
She’d batted her eyelashes and purred, “Pull me over again sometime and see.”
Ironic. Hehadpulled her over again when she was with Nick. She hadn’t seemed all that interested in kissing him.
Could their relationship be fixed?
Riley noticed he’d come into the lobby. She put down the mail and walked the remaining distance to him. She stood close, like she’d done last winter right before she threw her arms around him. “This needs to be fixed,” she said.
He did a double-take. How had she known his thoughts? Well, perhaps he was easier to read than he supposed. Perhaps she was finally ready to reconcile. “Yes, I think so,” he said.
He was one moment away from telling her that second chances were a good thing when she took hold of his tie, loosened the knot at his throat, and redid it. “There,” she said, stepping back. “Now you don’t look like you put on your tie without a mirror.”
He hadn’t looked in the mirror. In fact, he’d debated whether to wear one at all. Did a manager really need a tie all the time? He touched the knot, checking it. “Thanks.”
By way of explanation for his sloppiness, he added, “Policemen don’t have ties. I’m still not used to them.” And speaking of not-used-to-wearing-them, where had her tie-tying experience come from? “How do you know how to tie a tie?”
“Online videos. Isn’t that where everyone learns to tie them?”
“I learned from my father.”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess that does make sense in your case.”
She was still standing close to him. He was in no hurry to end the conversation. “Perhaps a better question is why did you learn to tie a tie?”
She shrugged. “No reason. I got bored one day and wanted to see how the other half lived.”
He dipped his chin. “I know you well enough to know your tells when you’re lying. Why did you actually learn how to tie a tie?”
If Riley had some tie-wearing boyfriend after they broke up, Lucas had never heard about it. Although maybe she had startedseriously dating someone, and no one told him because they knew it would bother him. An illogical thrum of jealousy went through him at the thought of her fussing over another man’s clothes.
She considered him. “Do I really have tells when I’m lying? What are they?”
As an officer, Lucas had learned to pay attention to body language. When Riley withheld information, she pressed her lips together, and her blink rate doubled. “I’m not going to tell you. You’ll try and change them, and as your boss, it comes in handy to know when you’re lying. By the way, I know it was you who put up the picture of a wallaby in the breakroom as the employee of the month.”
She fought a smile. “That can’t be proven.”
“So whose ties have you been straightening? Nick’s?” He groaned and shook his head. “It is Nick, isn’t it? I would’ve thought you had more sense than to go out with him again.”